Velominati Super Prestige:
Giro D'Italia 2013
Velominati Community Profile Archive

Velominatus: Two Ball Billy

Order: Level 2 Velominatus

@Two Ball Billy's activity:

Velominati Super Prestige: Giro D’Italia 2013

Twiggo is dreaming of a Giro-Tour double. He has sent out mixed messages about his Tour ambitions. Will he use the Giro as the ultimate Tour preparation or will be burn all his matches in May and hope he can find another pack for July? He has abandoned his successful 2012 Tour run-up strategy of winning every stage race he entered the previous spri...

@Two Ball Billy's posts:

  1. Rest day swap »

  2. Rest day swap VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps): 1. Evans Cadel 2. Nibali 3. Gesink 4. Sanchez 5. Hesjedal »

  3. VSP PICKS: 1. Wiggins 2. Nibali 3. Gesink 4. Sanchez 5. Hesjedal »

  4. VSP PICKS: 1. Wiggins 2. Nibali 3. Evans 4. Sanchez 5. Hesjedal »

Velominati Super Prestige: Luik-Bastenaken-Luik 2013

There is something to love about a race that makes a deviation to its route for the simple joy of sending a fleet of professional riders up a fiendishly steep and narrow ramp. The Cote du Stockeu offers zero benefit to the route from a logistical standpoint – in fact, all it does is complicate things. On the way down from the Cote de Wanne &#...

@Two Ball Billy's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Phillippe Gilbert 2. Michal Kwiatkowski 3. Joaquím Rodríguez 4. Alejandro Valverde 5. Samuel Sánchez »

Velominati Super Prestige: La Flèche Wallone 2013

We came tantalizingly close to adding a foray up the Mur de Huy during our excursion to Liege-Bastogne-Liege during this year’s Keepers Tour. But good sense and The Anti-V prevailed, as they are wont to do, and only two of us were left wanting a dig at the most notorious finishing climb in the Classics season.I write this, then, woefully igno...

@Two Ball Billy's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Philip Gilbert 2. Peter Sagan 3. Alejandro Valverde 4. Michael Albasin 5. Ryder Hesjedal »

Velominati Super Prestige: La Flèche Wallone Féminine 2013

Last year we saw Evelyn Stevens out-last Marianne Vos at the top of the Mur de Huy. The take home message is don’t start one’s charge too early. Vos should know this finish, having won it four times already. It’s hard to know who is on form in the professional women field as the races are too far apart to infer much from the last...

@Two Ball Billy's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Marianne Vos 2. Elizabeth Armitstead 3. Emma Johansson 4. Longo Borghini 5. Ellen Van Dijk »

Velominati Super Prestige: Amstel Gold 2013

Yes it is a race named after a barely drinkable Dutch beer. I have enjoyed Amstel beer, brought to our table by a nice waitress, sitting outside in the Dutch spring. Atmosphere is everything. Do the Dutch brew awesome beer? I drank some good stuff in Amsterdam last spring but I’m pretty sure it was Belgian.Now we begin the Ardennes three race...

@Two Ball Billy's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Philip Gilbert 2. Simon Gerrans 3. Damiano Cunego 4. Peter Sagan 5. Ryder Hesjedal »

Velominati Super Prestige: Paris-Roubaix 2013

It looks so easy on the television. Well, no, actually it looks pretty bloody hard. We think we have some understanding of how they suffer, how their bodies can take the continual beating. But we don’t really know. Not even by riding these abominations they call roads twice in the space of a few days can we understand the scale of the thing...

@Two Ball Billy's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Fabian Cancellara 2. Taylor Phinney 3. Thor Hushovd 4. Ian Stannard 5. Sébastien Turgot »

Velominati Super Prestige: Ronde van Vlaanderen 2013

Imagine a world without the little things we take for granted; a house without a roof, a pub with no beer, a Keepers Tour without any clothes. The last one is a reality for me at the moment, five days in and still no trace of where the hell between Wellington and Paris my bag (filled with V-Kit, shoes, helmet, everything) is. The other thing that h...

@Two Ball Billy's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Fabian Cancellara 2. Geraint Thomas 3. Peter Sagan 4. Sylvain Chavanel 5. Filippo Pozzato »

  2. VSP PICKS: 1. Fabian Cancellara 2. Geraint Thomas ( 3. Peter Sagan 4. Sylvain Chavanel 5. Filippo Pozzato »

Velominati Super Prestige: Ronde van Vlaanderen Féminine 2013

Marianne Vos has never won this? She who wins everything all the time has never won this? Is it not hilly and tough enough? This seems like a tear in the time-space continuum. Someone is going to be wanting to add this to her palmarés. Weather sounds like a cold but dry day for racing. This is a big one, maybe worth two bumper stickers, so ponder...

@Two Ball Billy's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Marianne Vos 2. Kirsten Wild 3. Annemiek Van Vlueten 4. Emma Johansson 5. Trixi Worrack »

Velominati Super Prestige: Trofeo Alfredo Binda 2013

This is the second round of the Women’s World Cup, the first being the Ronde van Drenthe. Laveno Mombello to Cittiglio, 120 km of racing in Italy. It is a very worthy course and we know who will be wearing the number 1 on her jersey. Enough already, I like Ms Vos as much as the next person but someone has to work her over on the climbs and ri...

@Two Ball Billy's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Vos 2. Armistead 3. Van Dijk 4. Johansson 5. Cromwell »

Velominati Super Prestige: Gent-Wevelgem 2013

Gent (Deinze)-Wevelgem, it starts with 130 km of cruising around Belgium and Northern France followed by a flurry of bergs and then a final 38 km of  flatter riding to the inevitable sprint finish. How hard can the climbing be if Super Mario got over them? Ask the riders from KT 2012, (the ones not in the following car) and they will tell you...

@Two Ball Billy's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Mark Cavendish: 2. Peter Sagan 3. Edvald Boasson Hagen 4. Taylor Phinney 5. Tyler Farrar »

Velominati Super Prestige: Milan-Sanremo 2013

Finally, we have Milan-Sanremo. I hope pedale.forcetta is ready to shoot some pictures, especially black and white because it will be cold and possibly wet. Throw in a little wind and a race of this distance will weed out the less hardy. Recently, but not too recently, this race would be won out of a decent size field sprint. And yet, besides Fabs...

@Two Ball Billy's posts:

  1. May the rainbow strips fly high on Sunday VSP PICKS: 1. Philippe Gilbert 2. Fabian Cancellara 3. Peter Sagan 4. John Degenkolb 5. Filippo Pozzato »

  2. VSP PICKS: 1. Fabian Cancellara 2. Philippe Gilbert 3. Peter Sagan 4. John Degenkolb 5. Filippo Pozzato »

Velominati Super Prestige: Ronde Van Drenthe 2013

Ok, so you guys and gals don’t miss a trick, but sometimes we do. In fact, we kind of specialize in it. @Bianchi Denti just texted me to point out, as others have done on site, that we have almost missed the next stop on the VVomen’s VSP calendar, the Ronde Van Drenthe. On International Women’s Day, of all things.All I can tell yo...

@Two Ball Billy's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Vos 2. Armistead 3. Johansson 4. Gunnewijk 5. Van Vleuten »

Velominati Super Prestige: L’Eroica/Strade Bianche 2013

Until the 70′s it was common to race on gravel roads, but the Paving of the Planet has led to nearly every road being graced by smooth, black tarmac. As is the case with most things, once we are shown the easy path, it is difficult to return to more arduous ways. So it is with gravel roads; we take measures to avoid unpaved roads and in doi...

@Two Ball Billy's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Fabian Cancellara 2. Peter Sagan 3. Androni Giocattoli 4. Greg Van Avermaet 5. Alejandro Valverde »

Velominati Super Prestige: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2013

Outside my window, its pouring rain. My bike is leaning agains the wall in my office, covered in grim and grit from the ride in, which was characterized by equal parts cold, wind, and rain. The spot in the locker room where I changed before my shower was marked by sand and mud, and when I walked to the shower, I left a trail of dirty footprints.It...

@Two Ball Billy's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Thor Hushvod 2. Lars Boom 3. Sylvain Chavanel 4. Geraint Thomas 5. Greg Van Avermaet »

Velominati Super Prestige: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Women 2013

Finally, some cold nasty Belgian one day racing. Oman, Qatar, does anyone brag about winning those stage races? Yes, they might but really, it’s a tune up for the real season which finally begins this Saturday. Will racing in China or Oman grow the sport? Will there be a new wave of inspired young racers from these countries. Does professiona...

@Two Ball Billy's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Elizabeth Armistead 2. Charlotte Becker 3. Jamie Bookwalter 4. Ellen van Dijk 5. Annemiek van Vleuten »

Velominati Super Prestige: Mens World Championship Road Race 2012

I’m quite upset about it, actually, all this racing that’s been going on in perfectly good weather. Vlaanderen, dry. Roubaix, dry. We were nearly guaranteed shit weather with the Olympics in London, but even then, only the women got to get all Rule #9 on our asses – and only for one race. Damnit, I want Epic, and if we keep insis...

@Two Ball Billy's posts:

  1. df »

  2. VSP PICKS: 1. S. Sanchez 2. T. Voeckler 3. T. Boonen 4. P Sagan 5. P. Gilbert »

Velominati Super Prestige: Women’s Road Championship 2012

It seems like just weeks ago that Cav won his rainbow stripes, things were said, umbrage was taken. Luckily we have found more umbrage so we are good to go. This course is not like last year. It’s not exactly a sprinters finish. It’s a 128 km rumble in Valkenberg and the Dutch team is there for Marianne Vos. She has finished second in...

@Two Ball Billy's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Voss 2. Armistead 3. Stevens 4. Pooley 5. Bronzini »

Velominati Super Prestige: Vuelta a España 2012

One of the loveliest things about the Grand Tours is that you get a feel, by the nature of the route, of the country’s landscape and physical qualities. Italy is littered with mountains and coasts, France is bordered by mountains with large swaths of open landscape throughout, and Spain is like Tatooine; mostly desert with some rocky outcropp...

@Two Ball Billy's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Joaquim Rodriguez 2. Igor Anton 3. Chris Froome 4. Van den Broeck 5. Alberto Contador »

Velominati Super Prestige: Women’s Olympic Road Race 2012

What a difference four years can make. In Beijing, Nicole Cooke was the dominant rider in Women’s Cycling, taking wins in every important race on the Women’s calendar for several years running. Fast finish, good in the hills, good against the clock, she helped give context to what we mean by the term “all rounder”.Four year...

@Two Ball Billy's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Vos 2. Cooke 3. Arndt 4. Armistead 5. Stevens »

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